Body Language
by summerbaytroubles
Summary: Nina Anikova works with Beth and Jack in the TAU. Being a previous Stalker victim herself, she's still shaken with a serious case of OCD and heavy panic attacks. However, there's an issue. Not only does she believe her stalker has found her again, but her two closest friends, Perry and Eric, are in dispute over something - her. But Perry's slightly more psycho than she thought..
1. Chapter 1

For Nina it was a normal Tuesday evening. There wasn't anything weird or dodgy about what was going on. But that phone call changed everything. "Hello?" she picked up the phone, stretching her legs out on the couch properly.

"Is this Nina Anikova?" came a quiet voice. Nina took a deep breath and answered timidly.

"Yeah."

"Do you know a man called Perry Whitley?" Nina sat up straight then.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Why?"

"He's been hospitalised and we're finding it hard to contact anyone else that he knows." Nina felt like she was about to vomit as she stood up. She felt her hands begin to shake and shiver.

"Which hospital?" she whispered.

"The Douglas Hart Medical." Nina just hung up and grabbed her coat, leaving her home. She turned off the light and locked the door behind her, getting into the car and driving off.

Getting into the actual hospital was difficult. There were a large number people in the reception area milling about, causing chaos with their demands to see a doctor of some sort. The air was full of the heavy scent of panic, fear and desperation. That's why Nina hated hospitals. She rushed toward the front desk. "Hi I'm looking for Perry Whitley?" she said loudly, pushing her dark brown bangs back from sticking onto her forehead.

"Ward 44," the woman answered, not even looking up. Nina left the desk without a thank you and rushed across to the lift, not caring that there were people in wheelchairs waiting for their turn to come. Eventually, the lift stopped and Nina was the first person in, automatically jabbing the number '4' with her finger and waiting for the lift to arrive on that level. As soon as the lift went 'ding!' she pushed her way out and ran, ran as fast as she could to the room where Perry lay, battered, bruised and bleeding, topless.

"My lord," Nina whispered, creeping into the ward. Beth shot her a look.

"Who called you here?" she hissed.

"The nurse, or receptionist, I'm not sure," Nina mumbled back, eyes still focussed on Perry.

"Oh Nina, you're here," Perry gave a tiny smile. "Hey."

"Perry," Nina sighed. "What in heaven's name are you doing here?"

"This is why you should've stayed in school," Perry rolled his eyes. Nina shook her head fondly and sat on the bed, smoothing out the creases. "Stop doing that, Nin."

"What happened?" Nina suddenly turned to Beth. "And why didn't _you_ call me?"

"Because he's a friend of yours and you're not allowed on cases where your friends are involved," Beth blinked, as if it was obvious. "And yet somehow you're still here." Nina was still fiddling with the bed sheets so Perry grabbed her hands. Forcing her to stop. She turned to face him.

"Sorry," she mouthed. Perry just breathed out slowly and let go of her hand. "So…what happened?"

"There was a fight," Beth began slowly. "Between Perry and another person."

"Eric," Perry inputted.

"Eric Bates? As in my Eric? Our Eric?" Nina spluttered.

"Don't," Perry's voice was already hitting a warning tone. Nina noticed his eyes were wide, pleading.

**Pleading **_[ˈpliːdɪŋ] [noun] [to plead]_ – 'the action of making an emotional or earnest appeal to someone.'

What was Perry making an earnest appeal for? For Nina not to 'go there', wherever 'there' was. But why?

"Don't go there, Nina." Nina said nothing and just fiddled with her diamond necklace, well aware that Perry was patiently waiting for her to speak.

"Why, what happened?" she finally burst out. Beth shot her another warning look.

"I can't tell you," Beth muttered. "It's not legally possible for you to know any facts of this case. I'm sorry." Nina blinked at her whilst Perry just got out of bed.

"But…"

"That's the end of it, Nina," Beth said firmly, gathering her stuff. "Thanks for answering our questions, Perry. We'll be in touch. Nina, I'll see you in the office later." Perry patiently waited for everyone to leave. Then he spoke.

"It's the sex tape thing. He still thinks I uploaded it, he's messing with my head," he whispered. Nina's eyes went wide, totally oblivious to this.

"I thought you had sorted all of this stuff out," she hissed back to him. Perry shut his eyes momentarily.

"He just won't leave me alone, Nina," he said softly. "He did this to me. He put me in hospital. The man is insane." Nina winced at this word and stood up. "But I said I wouldn't press charges." Nina frowned then. Surely if he was as bad as Perry was making him out to be, he would want him locked up? She studied his face and his body language again. He was fiddling with his top in between two of his fingers before throwing it on. His lips curled slightly.

This usually happened when the person felt some form of contempt.

**Contempt** _[kənˈtɛm(p)t] [noun]_ – 'disregard for something that should be considered.'

What should be considered? Well the way that Eric treated Perry, surely.

"Perry, you're okay right?" Nina questioned him, now concerned about his behaviour. Perry gave an irritated sigh as if he was trying to imply something else but she wasn't getting it.

"Yes Nina, I'm fine." Nina smiled at him and kissed his cheek quickly.

"Great. I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?" Perry called after her.

"Out," Nina called back, disappearing out of the room.

**A/N: First chapter, let me know what you think. It will be Nina solving cases with Beth and Jack, obviously you can see her talent is reading body language, analysing things to a fine detail. Then alongside that we have the weird 'love triangle' with Perry, Eric and Nina. Does Perry really love her? I don't even know yet. **

**\- J**


	2. Chapter 2 - Hostility

"I'm really not surprised you're here," Eric mumbled under his breath, moving aside to let Nina in. She breezed through the door and slammed it behind her.

"What is your problem?" she hissed, leaning against the door angrily.

"Problem?" Eric repeated. "What, you think that I'm the one that has a problem?"

"Yes, Eric!" Nina threw up her hands. Then something occurred to her and she put her hands back down. "Are you the one with the problem?" Eric sighed and moved away into the kitchen, causing Nina to follow him.

"Think of this logically. When have I ever had a direct problem with Perry?" he asked her seriously, attempting to ignore her eye contact. "I swear – friends with the dude for over eight years and I've never had a problem with him. Until recently – when things just got weird." Eric took a swig of his beer then, in a stressed manner. Nina felt uncomfortable then, instead of meeting Eric's eye contact, she scanned her eyes across the kitchen and noticed the window above the sink was slightly ajar.

"Why is that window open?" she turned to Eric swiftly.

"What?"

"The window? Why is it open?" Nina sounded more and more stressed with every syllable she pronounced and her eyes were in panic mode. Eric just gave her a sympathetic shake of the head and went to close it.

"Still upsetting you?" he guessed quietly, then turning away from the window, reaching out and touching her arm. Nina flinched at his touch but nodded slightly.

"I…" she trailed off, walking out of the kitchen. "What's going on with you and Perry?" Eric said nothing at first and stayed in the kitchen. "Eric, please."

"He filmed me and my girlfriend having sex! Why is that okay?" Eric finally broke, slamming the bottle back down on the counter. Nina saw the warning signs but continued.

"It's not okay, but it's Perry we're talking about here," Nina reminded him, pulling her hair into a ponytail and turning to face a distressed Eric. "Our Perry! The Perry we used to play games with, the one that we used to have a movie night with. He was our best friend-"

"Oh look, defending him again," Eric let out a bitter laugh, covering his face with his hands before leaving them to swing by his side again. "I am so sick of you constantly defending him, no matter what." Nina's eyes went to Eric's hands, which were curled up and squeezed rather tightly. This usually happened when someone was angry.

**Anger** _[ˈaŋɡə] [noun]_: a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility.

Who was Eric feeling hostility toward? Nina…or Perry?

Nina approached Eric slowly and held his fist in both of her hands, forcing him to let go of some of the anger. "I'm not taking sides," she assured him gently, looking him straight into his eyes. "If you believe that it was okay to pound Perry into a pile of mush, that's fine. I'm fine with that. Are you fine with that?" Eric's face crumpled in confusion.

"Nina you know I hate when you do that," he groaned, leaning on her shoulder. Nina let out a little giggle there and gave him a proper hug.

"Still works though," she smirked cheekily.

"Mmmm. I'm sorry for overreacting," he whispered, now resting his chin on top of her head. But before Nina could reply, her eyes trailed to outside, where parked up on the street opposite the campus, she noticed the car.

"Eric, Perry doesn't go here anymore, does he?" Nina checked, ruining the mood a little.

"No," Eric frowned.

"His car is here but he's not in it." Nina broke the hug and rushed to the window, pressing her face up against the glass so that it fogged up. Her face turned dark and she was now panicking, her heartbeat rising like mad. "He's somewhere on the grounds, Eric." Eric held her shoulders still and stared her straight into her eyes.

"Are you scared of him? What happened to the whole best friend thing we had going on there?"

"Okay maybe he's a bit more of a psycho than I thought," she babbled. "But I don't want him to see me yet. Not here, not now. I want to talk to him separately, without you here." Eric nodded as if he understood.

"Makes sense," he concluded. "I'll walk you to your car if it makes you feel a little safer." Nina smiled at this offer.

"Yeah, please." She took his arm and he walked her out, then turning around to turn off the light and lock his dorm door. Eric put his arm around her waist and gently steered her out of the dorm, past many students, down the stairs and outside where her car was parked. Nina opened the car door and turned back around.

"Call me when you get home, right?" Eric reminded her quietly.

"Right," Nina agreed, giving him another hug. "We'll sort this thing out with Perry, don't you worry about it." Eric just gave a small sad smile before stepping back and watching Nina get into her car, shut the door and drive off.

…

The next morning, Nina got into the office incredibly early. The only person there at the time was Beth, who raised her eyebrows at her. "Morning," Nina gave her a smile.

"Nina," Beth sighed. "I need to talk to you." Nina chewed her bottom lip as she agreed and went to sit down opposite her.

"What's up?"

"I need to talk to you about Perry Whitley," Beth muttered. Nina stayed quiet, focussing on the speck of dust that lay on Beth's desk. "What…what kind of relationship did you have with him?" Nina squirmed uncomfortably in her chair and Beth just stared straight at her.

"Um…a good one," Nina shrugged slightly. "Why?"

"Because I wanna know what he's done and what he's like." Beth couldn't decipher what was going on with Nina today. Something was so off.

"We…we used to be a couple," Nina admitted quickly, running her hands through her dark shoulder length hair. Beth looked ill.

"For how long?"

"Nearly three years," she blushed. Beth stared at her as if she had gone mad.

"When did you break up with him?"

"A while ago. A year…or so, I don't know. Why?" Beth stood up, causing Nina to stand up as well and follow her out – but not before she swiftly picked up the stray crumb on Beth's desk and put it in the bin.

"Because he's crazy," Beth concluded. "And a pathological liar." Nina stayed silent, uncomfortable with this conversation all of a sudden. "Why did you break up with him?"

"I had to move away and I couldn't keep up. But I don't understand why all the questions-"

"Who is Eric?" Nina woke up then.

"Eric is a very, very close friend of mine," she answered swiftly, without any hesitation whatsoever. "We've been best friends for ages. It was me, Eric and Perry for the run." Then she put her head down. "Then I moved and apparently he changed."

"Changed how?" Beth encouraged.

"I don't know," Nina looked up again. "I don't know. I'll never know. Perry told me that he stopped talking to him soon after I left. He found a new group of people to hang around with and just left him, alone. So he lost his mind and…" Nina shrugged, scrunching her nose up. "I never found out what happened."

"Have you ever been romantically linked with Eric?"

"No," Nina laughed lightly, looking at the ceiling. "Eric and I could never. We're close friends. That's all." Beth rolled her eyes.

"Is that from your perspective or from his perspective?" Nina sighed and Beth walked away, into the main office where a lot more of the colleagues were, including Jack, Janice and Ben.

"We've got the footage for you," Ben alerted them. "There's something in this guy's archives and it's creepy as hell." Nina glanced outside and noticed that Eric was sitting there, in the waiting room, talking to a receptionist. His hands were shaking violently and his knees just kept on shaking and his foot tapping. The tapping usually was a sign of impatience.

**Impatient **_[ɪmˈpeɪʃ(ə)nt] [adjective]_ : having or showing a tendency to be quickly irritated or provoked.

What was he being provoked by? She was about to find out.

**A/N: So sorry that this chapter is so long but it's really hard to stop writing aha. Next chapter on Friday…I hope CBS don't cancel Stalker, I might just cry if they do.**

\- **J x**


	3. Chapter 3 - Tension

Nina ignored the group meeting about the case that was going on and rushed outside to where Eric sat. "Eric!" she hissed, gently pushing the receptionist to the side. His head snapped up and she noticed his eyes were rimmed red with frustration.

**Frustration: [**_frʌˈstreɪ] [noun] _the feeling of being upset or annoyed as a result of being unable to change or achieve something

Clearly, Eric was frustrated with the fact that he couldn't change the situation with Perry.

"Nina," he began. His voice was gravelly and shaky, he didn't look stable. This scared her. In all of the years she had known him, Eric had never been like this. He was always the tough guy of the group. "Nina you have to stop him."

"Stop who?" Nina asked, bending down in front of him, causing the receptionist to go and call Beth.

"Perry. He's nuts." Nina's large murky blue eyes widened anxiously.

"What do you mean?"

"After you left yesterday," Eric clenched his jaw for a split second before carrying on. "I came in, turned on my light and he was sitting there on my bed!"

"For what? To do what? To forgive you?" Nina tried, desperately hoping that this was the answer.

"Yeah!" Eric exclaimed, hand gestures getting more and more extravagant.

"God bless," she breathed out, uncovering her face. "That's okay, right? I mean he got into your room, that's not okay obviously, but-"

"Nina, STOP DEFENDING HIM!" Eric suddenly shouted, which made Nina jump. She stood up and so did Eric. That's when she switched her mood.

"Shut up," she hissed, noticing that people were beginning to look. "Because he was there for me in times that you weren't. You both mean a lot to me, all I want you to do is get over this and move on!"

"Move on?" Eric's voice went dangerously quiet then. "You know me and Carla are over now. She won't talk to me because she thinks I'm making amateur porn. She moved like twelve states away. I now fail everything, I can't keep up with class, cos Perry thinks he owns me. HE DOESN'T OWN ME! And I thought you would be able to help me. But all you're doing is sounding more and more like Perry." Nina went pale.

There was no body language that she needed to study here, because she knew that Eric meant every word he said.

"Eric?" came Beth's voice from somewhere behind them. Nina turned around and gave Beth a look that explained pretty much everything that just happened.

"Beth…I think I'm gonna go home." Her voice was wavering as if she was on the edge of breaking down into tears in the next few seconds. "I don't feel well." Beth didn't argue, she just nodded and allowed Nina to run out of the room, down the steps and out of the offices. Then Beth called Eric into her office, where he sat.

"What was that about?" she asked him gently, once they were in the privacy of her own room. Eric didn't want to answer straight away but Beth's piercing eyes just continued to stare him down until he broke.

"Nina…Nina and I…she's basically doing what she did before! Always defending Perry, ever since we were little. When we would play ball and Perry cheated, she would defend him. I guess it was inevitable that they ended up together," Eric spat so bitterly that it made Beth flinch slightly.

"Do you like Nina?" she questioned gently. Eric forced himself to calm down, clasping his hands together and grimacing. At the mention of her name, his whole face softened and his persona completely changed.

"I did. For a long time, I did like Nina…I still do," he admitted. Then he sighed, fed up. "Everyone on campus always assumed that Nina and I would get together, cos she was just that kinda girl for me. She was the one that everyone wanted to be with, but the only friends she wanted were Perry and I. But then she moved away cos her mother got sick and Perry got weird after they broke up. I found a new group of friends and a girlfriend. Perry went ahead and took my girlfriend away from me and I _WON'T LET HIM TAKE NINA TOO_!" Suddenly Eric went and kicked the tin bin over in rage, hurt and distressed.

…

Later that evening, Nina sat on her sofa watching something mindlessly. She wasn't too sure what was going on and she didn't even feel like she was in her actual body. She began fixing the tablemat so that it was exactly twenty centimetres away from the corner of the coffee table, directly in the centre. Then the doorbell went. Nina got up and looked at the intercom before opening it, revealing a shameful looking Eric. "Can I come in?" he breathed. His eyes looked sorrowful and apologetic. Nina didn't even nod, just moved aside for him to come in and slammed the door behind him, making sure to lock it. When they were both inside, Nina worked her way around so that she was on one side of the sofa and Eric on the other. There was a moment of tense silence.

"Nina…"

"Eric I have always rooted for you. For the both of you. I never, ever thought it would come to the day where you guys are fighting so hard that the police are involved," she said calmly, her eyes shut and her legs crossed neatly. "I have never tried to take sides. Ever. Right now, Perry's absolutely insane, yes, I know. So for you to compare me to him – God it really hurts." Eric looked even more ashamed at that point, glancing down at his lap, not able to look up.

**Ashamed **_[əˈʃeɪmd] [adjective]: _embarrassed or guilty because of one's actions, characteristics, or associations.

Well his actions were clear in this case.

"I agree, and I am so sorry to have said that. I just didn't like how Perry had taken everything I had and then…he had taken you too. I have nobody left because of him," he confessed shakily.

"You can't lose me! Perry could never do anything to make you lose me," Nina assured him, close to tears again. "You know we've been so close for so long, so why would this be any different? Trust me, nothing is gonna change." Eric let out a scoff then.

"What, like it didn't between me and Perry?" he muttered. Nina sighed in defeat, completely giving up. She had no idea what more to say so she just snuggled deeper into the sofa and decided to say nothing – until she finally said,

"Why exactly are you here, Eric? An apology isn't the only reason," she snapped.

"Nina I-"

**_BUZZ_**. Nina turned and squinted her eyes at the intercom to try and see who it was. And she did.

"Eric, Perry's here. If I were you, I would leave," she hissed, not evening waiting for an answer before she went to answer the door. Eric just stood there, refusing to move until he had told her what he was there for. So when Perry walked in and saw him there – it was extremely awkward and tense.

**Tense **_[tɛns] [adjective]: _unable to relax because of nervousness, anxiety, or stimulation.

…

**A/N: Yeppp, I should have uploaded a while ago and I know I didn't due to unforeseen circumstances so in an apology, I'm uploading another chapter in a few days! Okay sorry guys for me slacking, but I hope the extra chapter makes up for it! Thank you all! x**


	4. Chapter 4 - Upset

"What's he doing here?" Perry mumbled, his eyes trained on Eric.

"I wanted to know the same thing," Nina sniffed, standing in the middle of them. Then she noticed something. Perry's face was even more bruised than it last was. "Perry what happened to you?"

"Your boss – she attacked me a few minutes ago because of him!" Nina raised her perfectly shaped eyebrows and turned to Eric, who was doing very well in the art of calming himself down. "I'm the one that decided not to press charges and I've been made the villain!"

"That's because you are one, Perry!" Eric suddenly roared, his attempt now failing. Perry let out a little laugh and shook his head.

"You're so deluded, Eric," he tutted pitifully. "So, so deluded."

"Perry I swear to god-"

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!" Nina shouted, causing both boys to stop. "I understand that when I left, I clearly caused problems, given that you two can't bother to sort stuff out anymore. I get it, the whole situation is messed up-"

"He made a sex tape!" Eric reminded her. "He made one of two people and neither of them were him."

"Do you have proof?" Nina pointed out fairly.

"Yeah, do you?" Perry joined in.

"Oh god here we go again," Eric bit down on his jaw in frustration.

"Here, we, go! Nina you have to trust me on this one, he has not left me alone, he is stalking me, believe it or not!" Perry scoffed at this.

"Okay, you know what? Lieutenant Beth Davis has already attacked me, threatening to do stuff to me if I don't leave you alone. So goodbye Eric – it's been fun," he mumbled, those large green eyes looking more than upset.

**Upset** _[ʌpˈsɛt] [verb]:_ make (someone) unhappy, disappointed, or worried

This time, he really was creating himself to be made the victim. Then he turned to Nina. "I'll see you later, babe," he whispered, giving her a hug and an unexpected kiss, right in front of Eric. Then he turned around and left them to it, slamming the door behind him.

Now, ignoring the fact that he called her babe, Nina felt highly uncomfortable as she absentmindedly reached up and touched her lips.

This time the silence was worse than the one before.

"You two are back…?" Eric trailed off weakly. Nina stared directly in front of him, as if she hadn't even heard a thing.

"No – well we weren't…we're not!" she quickly defended herself. Eric just shook his head, completely defeated and deflated, and left her home.

…

The next day at work, Nina tried to stay away from everyone. Jack and Beth were talking about something in a separate room but at Nina's little desk, it was silent. Her mind was still trying to decipher what exactly had happened between her and Perry.

When she first started going out with him, things were different. Perry was nicer to talk to, to interact with. He treated her like a princess and was the sweetest man alive. Then something happened to his mother and Nina moved away to take care of her own mother, so everything changed. She never knew what the 'new Perry' consisted of but now she knew it must've been bad.

Beth interrupted her thoughts with two simple words.

"Feeling better?" Nina glanced up, now slowly gaining a migraine.

"No," she answered shortly. Beth rolled her eyes.

"Good to hear, we've gotta go so come on chicken," she trilled in such a fake voice it made Nina's stomach crawl. Nina got up groggily and followed her out of the office. She sat in the black shiny BMW that Beth drove around in, in the passenger seat. Beth got in the driver's seat and passed her a cup of coffee. Nina took it reluctantly.

"Thanks," she mumbled as Beth started the car. Beth glanced at her for a split second.

"What's happened?" she sighed.

"Nothing," Nina said shortly. "Nothing at all. In fact I'm absolutely fine."

"Less of the sarcasm would be great," Beth hummed.

"No, I think that was the perfect amount of sarcasm thanks," Nina scoffed. She looked at the dashboard and saw that there was a slight smudge on the glass. This really, really bothered her. "You need to clean your car."

"My car is just fine," Beth blinked in confusion. "So I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Your car is dirty," Nina insisted. She tucked her short brunette hair behind her ears before reaching into her bag, pulling out what looked like a portable packet of wipes and reached over to wipe it whilst Beth was attempting to keep her eyes and focus on the road. Beth slapped her hand before Nina could even reach the smudge.

"Are you insane?" she hissed.

"Your car is dirty, please let me clean it," Nina groaned, letting her murky blue eyes flutter shut so she didn't have a break down there and then. Beth slowly realised what was going on.

"You have OCD?"

"You just noticed?" Nina peeked one eye open. "You've been working with me for all this time and you only JUST got the fact that I have OCD? For a detective you're not very analytical." Beth blushed at this comment as she slowly pulled up.

"Were you born with it? Or…" Beth trailed off.

…

_"Perry, are you done with that?" Nina rushed over to where Perry had just placed his chilled can of Pepsi down on the coffee table in front of him. Eric rolled his eyes as Perry just chuckled at his girlfriend._

_"Nope."_

_"Well then," Nina tutted irritably. She opened the small oak chest of drawers next to the sofa and pulled out a circular coaster, picking up the can, placing the coaster on the table and replacing the can back down on top of it. "You'll need one of those."_

_"Nina don't be so anal about everything," Eric grinned, watching Nina fix the coaster so that it was a certain amount of centimetres away from the corner of the table._

_"I'm not being anal," Nina mumbled. "You can never be too sure, though." Perry smirked at pulled Nina down from behind her so that she ended up on his lap._

_"Yeah you can – cos you're being way too sure to the point that it kills all elements of fun!" Eric carried on, that glint of amusement never quite leaving his eyes._

_"I love it when you're like, all over-controlling and stuff. Your OCD is cute," Perry whispered into Nina's neck, making her giggle and-_

…

"I was born with it," Nina answered Beth's question shortly. "Now I think it's time for us to get out and question these people, right?"

"Righhhht…." Beth nodded. Then Nina looked out of the window and saw exactly where they were. They were back outside the station.

"Beth we've just done a round trip around town…" she mumbled, baffled.

"Yeah. I thought you needed air – because that 'nothing' that happened to you, is clearly affecting you in some way," Beth said with a hint of a smile before swinging herself back out of the car and into the office. Nina sat there, in shock. Then Beth opened the door again and poked her head through. "No but seriously I need you in there, we got a job to do," she hissed, causing Nina to spring into action.

**A/N: Okay hang on, two things. To my American readers, what do you think about the Perry situation that's recently occurred? Even though I'm British I found out…can't say I'll be following that storyline in this fanfic! **

**Also who do you prefer Nina with, Eric or Perry?**


	5. Chapter 5 - Lie

"Did you know your husband was having an affair?" Jack asked Larry's wife in the interview room. Larry's wife shook her head at first, her mouth staying closed.

"Say the words out loud, please," Nina spoke up from the corner of the room, where she usually stood to observe. Jack had never worked with her like this before so he was curious to see what use she was. Larry's wife frowned at her request but obeyed.

"No, I didn't know." Nina let out a small laugh of disbelief. Larry's wife's right eye was twitching slightly, at a few beats per second. Nina didn't need to read too deeply into her body language to see that this was a lie.

**Lie **_[lʌɪ] [noun]:_ an intentionally false statement.

"You're lying," she announced. Jack raised both his eyebrows, impressed.

"How do you know?" he whispered.

"Yeah, how DO you know?" Larry's wife asked accusingly.

"Because you don't have to be a genius to know a liar," Nina hissed, walking slowly toward the suspect. "Therefore, unless you want us to have to take further action, which could be long, tedious and potentially painful - I suggest you tell the truth, right now." Jack stared at the suspect as well, now, waiting.

"Fine," Larry's wife sighed. "I did know. Of course I knew-" Nina nodded in satisfaction. She spun on her heel and began to leave the room whilst glancing at her watch.

"Uh, Nina! What if I need you here again?" Jack called after her.

"You won't – I feel like she'll just tell the truth from here on out!" Nina trilled back. Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair as the door slowly closed shut. Nina bumped into Beth on the way out.

"Wait you're done already?" Beth frowned.

"Yeah, I'm on a lunch break – I've got to meet someone," Nina whispered. Beth gave a single nod, allowing her to go and watching her leave.

…

Nina swung on her stool in the Coffee Bar Shop. It was quiet, there was hardly anyone there, apart from Tracy, the pretty British lady who owned the place. "Are you waiting for someone?" she smiled to Nina who was sipping a creamy hot chocolate.

"Er…yeah, a friend of mine," Nina beamed back. "How's everything going?"

"It's okay," Tracy sighed happily. "I think I'm finally getting over – you know, everything."

"Good," Nina nodded.

"Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Are you getting over…everything?" Nina bit down on her jaw and gave a short nod.

"Yeah…you could say-"

"Hey babe!" Nina spun around on her stool to see that Perry had just walked in, wearing the black hoodie that she had bought him years ago. He happened to look extremely good in it.

"Perry," Nina breathed, almost feeling relieved to see him walk in. He walked up to her and hugged her, kissing her forehead. "Thank god you're here."

"What was the urgency?" Perry murmured into her hair. Nina let go of him and faced him properly.

"Us! That's the urgency…I have no idea what is going on with us, I leave for one second, I come back we're not together – then suddenly BOOM, we're back on!"

"You know I'm one for working things out," Perry shook his head sadly, placing himself on the stool next to Nina. "But ever since Lieutenant Davis came and roughed me up-"

"Roughed you up?" Tracy suddenly spluttered from behind the bar, amused. Nina jumped, forgetting she was still there.

"Ya, pretty badly," Perry grunted.

"That's Beth for you," Tracy giggled to herself. The wind changed in Perry's sails.

"Wait, you know her?" he blinked.

"She's like, my best friend," Tracy confirmed. Then she realised that she had interrupted quite a serious conversation. "Sorry, continue."

"I just wanna know where we are, Perry. So I can either move on or try to adjust myself back to this lifestyle," Nina finally finished, running her fingers through her hair so that it became a little messy. Perry smirked at this.

"So what, you're prepared to just ignore the kiss yesterday and go back to our old friendship ways?" he teased, hopping off the stool.

"I am prepared to do whatever keeps you and Eric civil," Nina corrected him, noticing that Perry was now getting closer to her again.

"Eric and I will never be civil, that's just something you'll have to accept," Perry spat bitterly. Nina groaned.

"Then…then no, I'm not prepared to ignore the kiss," she whispered. "I've been thinking of you all morning." Perry's smirk grew wider then as he leaned in and fixed her hair for her a little.

"I've missed you," he muttered under his breath.

"You saw me yesterday," Nina reminded him cheekily.

"No I mean all of this time, I've really, really missed you. I'm glad you're back," Perry sighed. He cupped her face with both of his hands, leaned in and kissed her gently. Tracy smiled from behind the counter. They were cute – weren't they?

…

Jack found Nina so fascinating. Everytime she did the body analysing thing, it made him stare at her in wonder. He didn't know much about her – in that respect, she was a bit like Beth. But he attempted to find out as much as he could when he had the chance – which was usually in the car journeys from suspects house to office. In this case, it was the journey from the office to the gym that held the stalker and his final victim. "Favourite film?"

"Matrix," Nina answered quickly over the noise of the sirens.

"I thought you were going to say that," Jack nodded, speeding down the streets behind the other police cars that held Beth, Janice and other officers.

"What?! How did you know?" Nina laughed lightly.

"You look like a Matrix kinda person," Jack shrugged playfully.

"Shut up," Nina smirked. Jacks swerved onto the curb.

"Let's do this," he coughed, loading his pistol and Nina loading hers. "You might need to talk this one out of anything he's planning to do." Nina froze.

"Talk to the crazy man? Uh…I don't know about that one, Jack," she hummed quietly. Her stomach went into knots.

"I'm pretty sure you're the one with all of the reverse psychology degrees?" Jack reminded her as he swung himself out of the car, Nina following.

"You can't get a degree on reverse psychology."

"Can't you, Nina? Can't you?" Jack winked at her. Nina rolled her eyes and followed him into the building. A few steps later and they had joined Beth and a few other officers on their quest to find the stalker. It was deadly quiet in the ghostly gym and none of the lights were on. Suddenly, they heard a scream from the top floor.

They had to move, fast.

**A/N: Can I just say that I would marry Perry Whitley of The Whitley's I do not care what anyone says, I love that boy. Next chapter next Friday, sorry this one was so short but I have such a good one coming next and I didn't know when to cut it off aha!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Confused

"Let's go guys," Beth hissed briskly as she already begun to run up the stairs. Nina followed Jack and Beth and once they reached the top, panting, she finally understood why she would have to talk him out of it. This guy, Kurt, was about to douse himself in gasoline alongside the young woman he had tied up. Then he was ready to set himself on fire – some simple words or threats with a gun simply wouldn't work in this situation. There was a wall of glass between TAU and him and Jack was about to shoot it so that they got through faster, but Nina stopped him.

"Wait. Let me try something," she whispered. Beth nodded at the rest of the team who looked at Nina like she was crazy, implying that she trusted whatever was about to happen. Nina found the door leading to the room and slowly opened it, her heart thumping. Kurt turned around at the squeak of the door and Nina shoved her pistol in the back pocket of her jeans. "Kurt? It is Kurt, right?" she asked quietly. Lori continued to sob silently, unsure of what was going on.

"Do I know you?" Kurt blinked, still clutching the box of matches in his hands.

"Yeah – I'm Sam, we met ages ago, you helped train me?" Nina lied. She slowly, steadily, took tiny steps toward him – totally aware that Beth, Jack and the rest of the team were watching her from behind the glass intensely. Kurt shook his head.

"No," he muttered. "I don't."

"Oh you know! Five squats and seven push ups every Thursday afternoon, eight if I was a bad girl and drinking the night before? We had such a good time together, c'mon Kurt," Nina tried again. Kurt's eyes lit up for a split second. Then they grew dull again.

"Whatever. Why are you here?" he asked her coldly.

"Cos you said you wanted me all those years ago, that's why. I don't think you should be wasting your time doing whatever it is to this chick, let's go out for dinner like you promised? C'mon, don't do this." Nina could easily see that Kurt was confused now, his mouth was slightly open in pure confusion.

**Confused** _[adjective] [kənˈfjuːzd]_: (of a person) unable to think clearly; bewildered.

Why was Kurt bewildered? Well Nina was certainly confusing him enough. But for her, it was reminding her of a different time in her life completely.

…

_"Perry!" Nina shouted, running over to where her best friend sat on his bed with the loaded barrel of a gun shoved into his mouth. Perry held up his hand and shook his head, signalling Nina not to come any closer. "Perry, please," Nina cried, stopping obediently and hovering awkwardly in the hallway. "Please don't, I need you. Don't do this to me." Perry carefully pulled the gun out of his mouth, but this time held it to the temple of his head instead._

_"I wasn't there for you."_

_"But you can be there for me now."_

_"You could've gotten hurt."_

_"I wasn't though, Perry, I'm fine because he didn't touch me," Nina lied through her teeth._

_"No one needs me," he whispered. "My mom said it all. They don't need me. You don't need me, you have Eric. He'll take care of you now." Nina took small steps toward Perry as her eyes continued to flood with tears._

_"No, I need you, we all need you. Please Perry, this isn't the way," Nina sobbed hysterically. "Don't leave me, you can't kill me, don't you dare pull that trigger, don't-"_

…

"No, Lori deserves this and so do I," Kurt spat angrily, striking the match. Nina glanced behind her and saw Jack shake his head and pull out his gun. Without hesitation, he shot the glass at the same time as Nina pulled out her gun and shot Kurt, at the same time as both Beth and Jack. Nina ran up to Lori, who was shaking and soaking wet with gasolilne.

"It's okay, he's gone now. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," she whispered, untying her. Lori didn't answer, she just collapsed into Nina's arms and cried her heart out.

…

_Perry's grip on the gun loosened slightly and Nina took the opportunity to grab it and throw it across the floor like it was a hot potato. She engulfed Perry in the largest hug she had ever given, her tears trickling down her cheeks into his hair._

_But Perry didn't shed a tear._

_In fact, Perry was the one that ended up holding Nina, rocking her from side to side, shushing her and placing little kisses on the top of her head, whilst muttering the words 'I'm sorry baby, I'm sorry.'_

…

"Good morning sunshine!" Jack beamed as soon as Nina walked into the office the next morning. "You got a present from Santa waitin' for ya."

"Present?" Nina repeated, chewing the inside of her cheek nervously.

"Present," Jack nodded. "Go to your desk." Nina slowly approached the desk and saw a little white teddy bear in a Santa hat clutching a dark satin red heart. There was a card next to it and Nina swiftly opened it. She knew that all eyes were on her but tried not to react too much.

'_Babe,_

_I am so happy to officially say we're together again. I've never stopped loving you. You mean the world to me._

_See you later. (;_

_Perry xx'_

"Awh," Nina giggled, picking up the bear and placing a kiss on its fluffy white head.

"Who's it from?" Jack asked curiously. Nina closed the card and stuffed it into her pocket quickly.

"My boyfriend," she beamed. Jack raised an eyebrow and said nothing more, but Beth glanced away uncomfortably. It was clearly too soon for her to understand anything to do with love or relationships.

"Who's the lucky guy then?" Janice grinned from her own desk.

"Let's just say…he's my best friend," Nina gushed. Beth looked back up then. She didn't like the words that just came out of Nina's mouth, at all.

"Eric?" she guessed. Everyone's heads turned to her and Nina blushed a furious red.

"It's not your business," she hummed lightly before leaving the office completely. Beth bit down on her jaw and said nothing more.

**A/N: Merry Christmas! I'm back, so is this story, and that's exciting for me because I now know where I'm going with it haha. Do you ship Nina with Perry or with Eric? So many secrets yet to be revealed. Love you all, see you in a week!**

\- **J x**


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